They Never Came Back
by lollygirl128
Summary: Just because Percy and Annabeth made it out of Tartarus, doesn't mean they were unscathed. Nightmares and so much more plague the couple, and their friends are helpless to save them. But that doesn't mean they're helpless to save each other. Does it?
1. Chapter 1

They Never Came Back

**A/N I normally don't like most fics set after MoA, because they're completely chock full of assumptions (and you know what they say about people who assume). But this idea popped up, and I was in need of an idea, so I wrote it down.**

**I'm such a hypocrite.**

_"It's gone."_

_Percy looked to Annabeth. "What?"_

_"The wall. It just ended."_

_When Percy and Annabeth had finally hit the ground, one of the first things that popped into his mind after making sure Annabeth was as good as she could be with a broken ankle, was something Annabeth had said when they were fourteen and in the labyrinth. To follow the wall on the left. As Annabeth had no other ideas, she had agreed. So for however long they had been there, she had kept her left hand on the left wall of the tunnel they seemed to be in, with Percy acting as a human crutch to keep her from further damaging her broken ankle._

_"Does it turn left or something?" he asked. He brought Riptide around to look for the wall, but the glow was too dim to see anything, as usual._

_He heard Annabeth moving her hand along the wet and soft wall until it ended. "I don't know. Maybe there's a room right here?"_

_"Then we should avoid it," Percy concluded. He hoisted her arm back around his shoulder and began walking forward. "If it's a room, we should find the wall again when we're past it."_

_Annabeth nodded and hopped along with Percy. She didn't dare put an ounce of weight in her ankle._

_As the were passing the room, they heard a soft growl. It was hard to hear with the constant indistinguishable whispers coming from all around them, but they both heard it. Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth and turned his blade to where the sound had come from._

_The glow from Riptide was enough to expose the snout of a hellhound, inches away from the two of them. The monster bared it's teeth and, faster than possible, lunged for Percy's throat._

_"NO!" Annabeth shrieked, reaching for the blade that Luke had given her so long ago, only to remember having lost it in the fall. She watched in sickening detail as the hellhound sunk his teeth into Percy's flesh, directly into the jugular. Blood everywhere, but she couldn't look away. Like a train wreck._

_"Percy, no!" she shrieked again, reaching for Riptide to kill the monster. It was out of her reach, so she put her injured foot down to reach further. A thousand white hot knives pierced the skin of her ankle and traveled down her foot and up to her knee, but she paid it no heed. She grabbed the sword from the ground where Percy had dropped it, and attacked the monster. She brought it down on his neck, and he turned into dust._

_She dropped the blade on the ground next to where she knew Percy's head was. It illuminated half of his face and, to her horror, half of his extensive injuries._

_"No, Percy!" she yelled at him, dropping to her knees by his chest. His hand groped the floor, looking for her hand, and she provided it. "No," she said again. That was all she was able to say._

_His breaths were coming in rasps, and the blood kept flowing out of his wounds. There was a chunk of his neck missing right where his jugular was, and blood all over his face and chest. Annabeth started to rip part of her shirt to press to his neck, but his hand weakly stopped her._

_"D-don't," he rasped. "Too… late."_

_Annabeth let out a pent up sob. "No! You're gonna be fine! We still have to—"_

_"Sweety," he breathed, and that's when Annabeth lost all hope. He _never_ called her that. "S'alright."_

_"But it's not!" she sobbed. "You have to stay with me! That's why you came down here!"_

_Percy's eyes fluttered closed and he shook his head infinitesimally. "Do one th-thing, Annabeth?"_

_Annabeth nodded her head forcefully and moved closer to his mouth so she could hear him over her sobs._

_"Wake up."_

Annabeth's eyes snapped open and she heard the echo of a scream in her room on the Argo II. She could tell, from the scratching in her throat, that it and many more had come from her.

She put no more thought into it as she stared up into the battle-hardened, pained, and worried sea-green eyes above her.

He held her wrists in his vice like grip, and she realized she was fighting to get out of his grip. She had the urge to slap at something, scratch and injure something, and she had a feeling Percy was keeping her from doing that to herself. She let the muscles in her arms loosen, and he didn't hold her so tight.

Annabeth tried hard to slow her hyperventilating, but didn't do well. Her gasps turned to sobs, and she had no urge to stop it.

Percy was hovering above Annabeth, standing to the side of her bed. He had put his elbows on either side of her ribs and grabbed her wrists, trying to keep her from clawing at her neck, but when that hadn't worked, he'd put his upper body over hers.

As he watched her sob beneath him, tears gathered in his eyes and started to travel down his nose. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her, so he laid down next to her on her small twin bed and let her sob into his shirt. He stroked her hair, whispering reassurances in her ear. He had heard what she was saying (or screaming) in her sleep, things like 'Percy no' and 'you're gonna be fine', so he assumed it was a nightmare about him. He was so familiar with nightmares about losing her that he wasn't surprised.

He looked to the door, where he had forgotten Jason was standing. He looked worried for Annabeth and tired from saving the two of them from that pit of hell. Percy mouthed 'I've got her' to him, and he nodded and left.

Annabeth's sobs were slowing, and she had slowly stopped convulsively clutching Percy's shirt. Percy moved a strand of sweaty hair away from her face and looked into her eyes. Just doing that made him want to cry with her. What used to be stormy, calculating, and thoughtful were now sad, broken, and a little lost. He knew that his eyes probably didn't look the same, either. He vowed that he would do whatever it took to get her back to her old self if it was the last thing he did.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her in the softest of voices. Sometimes in Tartarus talking about their nightmares would help, sometimes it didn't.

She let out a shuddering breath. "That first hellhound attack, about a day after we got there." Percy knew the one. "It… it didn't go the same. He attacked you, and I couldn't save you," she finished with a whisper so quiet Percy had to read her lips to know the last few words.

Percy hugged her tighter and held her head to his neck, and kissed her head. "It's alright, Annabeth. We got out. We're saved."

Annabeth's face crumpled. "I know. But it was so _real_!" She started sobbing again. Percy resumed stroking her hair.

"I know what you mean," he murmured.

After a few minutes of her crying herself out into his shirt, she finally rearranged herself on the bed so that Percy was more comfortable. Then she lay with her head in the crook of his shoulder, clutching his hand as if it were a lifeline.

"Will you sleep in here?" She asked in a whisper.

Percy thought about it. Jason would definitely know if Percy never went back to his room, since he had seen him come in here. He would probably be listening for Percy to go back to his room. But he didn't want Annabeth to know Jason had seen her crying. She hated how weak she had already seemed in front of their friends since their escape, and he knew better than to add to that pile of shame.

"Coach Hedge?" He said the name like a question. He could practically hear her roll her eyes.

"If he says anything, I'll take his club and bonk him on the head with it," she said.

The corner of Percy's mouth twitched, almost as if it wanted to smile. Gods, how he missed smiling.

"Sounds like a plan. 'Night, Annabeth." he said.

"'Night, Percy."

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah, Percy?"

He kissed her on the forehead. "I love you."

The corner of Annabeth's mouth twitched as well, only not out of humor as Percy's had. "I love you too."

Percy took the hand that Annabeth wasn't clutching and wrapped his arm around her. He waited until Annabeth's breathing had slowed until he let himself close his eyes. They both slept peacefully, as they had found they could only do in each other's arms.

**A/N I have decided to turn this into a three or four chapter thing, explaining things like how Percy was so familiar with dreams of losing her, and why Jason was in the doorway, and whatever else.**

**I hope I didn't anger anyone or gross anyone out with the dream. But the blood in the beginning is why it's rated T, when the rest of my stuff is all K+. I'm paranoid, so what?**

**Topic change: I have been totally fangirling all day over the new House of Hades cover. IS IT AWESOME OR WHAT?**

**Yeah. It's awesome.**

**Anyway, please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**A/N To avoid confusion, I will just tell you now that this chapter is set at the same time as the last one. You'll understand what I mean soon enough.**

Percy awoke with a start, breathing hard. His sense of threat-level was high, but as his eyes searched his surroundings with panic, he saw nothing within the darkness of his room aboard the Argo II.

He heard a shuffle to his left, and in a flash had Riptide out and aimed toward his enemy. The figure, which Percy's eyes had not adjusted enough to see, took a step back and put his hands in the air to show he was unarmed. Percy kept his blade to the mans chest.

"Percy, it's me," the person said, and with a jolt of recognition, Percy lowered his weapon from Jason's chest. He sighed in relief at no longer being at sword point. Percy recapped Riptide and shoved it in his pocket, then he scrubbed both hands over his face and into his hair, sitting back on his bed.

"I'm sorry, man. Force of habit," Percy told him tiredly. Jason winced at the implications of his statement, those implications being that he had to be ready to fight for his and Annabeth's lives at a second's notice in Tartarus. In the short time Jason had known Percy before Tartarus, he had learned that Percy would often startle awake and put his hand on his sword at the slightest of noises, and that was understandable. Being a demi-god, that was a good sign that you'd been through things that had instilled into your mind the need to be ready at all times. But this time had been different. He had had trouble waking Percy up, and when he finally had, Percy had nearly killed him.

"S'alright Perce. Though I think you poked a hole in my shirt," Jason offered, hoping to put some humor in there. Percy didn't smile.

"So, not to be rude, but what're you doing in my room? At," Percy squinted at his alarm clock, "2:17 am?"

Jason shifted his weight, and Percy noticed. "I was… going to the kitchen and I… I heard you yelling. I had a feeling you were dreaming, so I decided to wake you up."

Percy looked to his hands, which were in his lap. So Jason had heard him yelling. He must look so weak right now, he thought to himself.

"Must've been a nightmare," Percy muttered. He tried to remember his dream, but couldn't. He didn't know if he should be grateful for not having to recall his past terrors, or wishing he could remember what had happened in the dream so he would have an idea as to what he had been screaming.

"Must've been," Jason said quietly.

Percy opened his hands, mostly for a distraction from feeling Jason's gaze on him, and noticed he had nail marks in his palms like he had been clenching his fist too hard. Suddenly, Percy remembered his nightmare.

_Annabeth and Percy were hobbling down the same cavern they had been in for the last week, with Percy practically carrying Annabeth. She refused to be actually carried, even though it would be easier and faster than what they were doing, so Percy had her arm around his shoulders and his arm around her waist. Her ankle was getting progressively worse from occasionally putting weight on it to battle various monsters. They were both covered in various scrapes, cuts and bruises, but they honestly weren't in that bad of shape for having been in hell for a week._

_Percy's left hand, which he was keeping connected to the wall, was suddenly yanked away when Annabeth fell to the right. He heard rock crumbling and Annabeth yelped, clutching both hands to Percy's right forearm. Percy gritted his teeth and pulled her back upright, then tumbled onto the floor with her in her arms. The clutched each others arms and backs to ensure the other was really there, gasping for breath. Percy's heart was racing, and he knew Annabeth's must have been faster._

_"What… happened?" Percy gasped out to her._

_"There's a… cliff there, I guess," she responded through shuddering breaths._

_"I thought we were at the bottom?"_

_"We are, I know we are, but… I guess it's like a pit. Maybe it's a prison for something."_

_Percy stayed quiet, and the two of them worked to slow their breathing and heartbeats. Annabeth, who had been laying on top of him, rolled to his side and they rested for a few minutes._

_"We should get moving again," Percy whispered to her, and she nodded. He stood up with minimal difficulty and began to slowly help her up without using her ankle._

_They continued down their path the same as they had been, Percy supporting Annabeth on his right and holding the wall with his left. They walked in silence, as they were prone to do, so that they could hear approaching enemies. Percy heard rocks crumbling again, and stopped walking to clutch Annabeth tighter to his side._

_"The path is getting too narrow, I'll have to walk behind you," Annabeth told him. He held her left wrist tightly with his right hand and she began to shuffle behind him._

_She was almost behind him when he heard more crumbling. He saw Annabeth shift her good foot to get a stable footing, but the rocks continued to crumble beneath her. She looked at Percy with fear in her eyes and shot her right hand out to grab his right forearm, and then she slipped completely, falling feet first into the chasm below._

_"No!" Percy yelled, and gripped her wrist tighter. He fell to his knees as her weight pulled him down, and her fall jerked to a stop when she was his arm's length down. Percy felt his shoulder dislocate._

_Percy clenched his eyes and gritted his teeth, but still let out a strangled scream at the pain. The sound mingled with Annabeth's scream of terror, and echoed of the walls._

_Percy put his left hand down to Annabeth, and she grabbed it with her right so that his dislocated arm didn't have as much weight to bear. Percy could hear Annabeth's foot scrambling to find purchase on the stone wall beneath him, but there were no footholds._

_"Percy," Annabeth whimpered, "I can't—"_

_"Don't you dare," he growled through his teeth. "I am _not_ letting you fall."_

_"I can't hold on! And there's nothing for me to push myself up with! And your arm…"_

_"Annabeth!" he yelled, and his voice came out almost menacingly. "If you let go, I swear to the gods I'll jump in after you."_

_Annabeth looked at him imploringly. Even though they were both inches from death, Percy couldn't help but notice her beauty, even in the dim light provided by Riptide. Annabeth sighed and closed her eyes._

_"Don't. I love you."_

_"Annabeth…" he said in a strangled whisper. He couldn't see her clearly through the blur of tears in his eyes._

_She opened her eyes and looked at him with those gray orbs he knew so well, eyes reflecting his love for her. "Don't," she repeated._

_And then she let go._

"PERCY!"

Percy snapped back to the present and looked into the vibrant blue eyes of his friend. "Yes?" he asked.

Jason looked at him exasperatedly. "Seriously? You were practically comatose for like three minutes and all you say is _yes_?"

Percy frowned. He had just been sitting there for three minutes, trapped in his mind? Percy looked to his hands again, only to find that his hands were tightly clenched again, nails digging deeper. He released his fingers from their fists to see that his palms were bleeding. He hadn't felt anything until just now, and now it hurt.

Jason looked to where Percy was staring. "We'd better get that fixed. Do you have any nectar or ambrosia in here?"

Percy shook his head. "Even if I did, I think one bite of ambrosia would burn me up with all I've had since we got back. I can just wrap it with some gauze," he told Jason as he opened the drawer in the table next to his bed. Percy dug in the drawer until he found the roll of gauze, then eyed it warily.

"Do you want me to help?" Jason asked him.

Percy paused, then acquiesced that he would indeed need help with this. He handed Jason the wrap.

As Jason carefully covered his wounds, Percy thought back to his dream. It was frighteningly similar to something that had actually happened. Annabeth _had_ fallen into the chasm, and Percy_ had_ dislocated his shoulder, but as close as she came, she hadn't let go. But what made the dream so terrifying was her nonchalance about letting go and falling to her death. Like she was uncaring, or had already resigned herself to it.

Percy shook the thoughts from his head. That was just the Annabeth in his dreams. In real life, while she was much more closed off and scared, she definitively wasn't suicidal. Tartarus might have changed a lot of things, but Percy was fairly certain that nothing could take away his girlfriend's pride.

Jason had finished wrapping Percy's palms. The bandage wrapped from his wrist to his mid palm, with his thumb poking out from the white cotton on the side.

"Thanks, man," Percy told Jason.

"No prob. I'm used to fixing you up. While you were unconscious when you first got here, who do you think set your shoulder?"

Percy looked down again. It was like he had to be taken care of, watched like a kid. Nobody would take him seriously again, would they?

Jason noticed Percy's facial expression. "What?"

Percy glanced up at Jason. "Nothin'. I just… I don't like looking weak. I don't like people having to take care of me."

"That's not weakness, you know."

Percy nodded. "I know. But I'm not used to this. Having to be taken care of, I mean."

"Why? You're a demi-god, aren't you?"

Percy scoffed. "One hundred percent. But, right before the war against Kronos, I swam in the River Styx. So I was invulnerable. I was the one taking care of injured people, since I was the only one not injured in some way."

Jason looked at Percy for a long moment. This was the first he was hearing of this. He had known Percy was brave, but brave enough to swim in the Styx? That's so brave, it's borderline insane. And to go through (what he had heard was) such a painful process to become invulnerable not for himself, but to win a war? That took guts. He felt his respect for the older teen in front of him go up. But an outsider wouldn't know that from what Jason said next.

"You're an idiot," He told Percy.

Percy looked up, incredulously. "Huh?"

"You think you look weak for getting inured and having night-terrors? After all you've been through? Look at how often I got conked in the head the first several days after you got on the boat. _That_ was far more weak than what you've been doing."

"Yeah well you couldn't help—"

"Oh and you could? Percy, the fact that you made it out of that hell-hole alive is proof that you are one of the strongest people on this earth. You, and Annabeth, and Nico. If you really believe that you're _weak_, then you really are an idiot."

Percy considered what Jason had told him. Then he nodded. "Thanks, Jason," he said. "I needed that."

Jason nodded. Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream came from a bedroom down the hall. Jason's head snapped to the door, and he was just in time to see Percy bolt thought the doorway and toward the scream. Jason followed him to Annabeth's door.

He stood in the doorway and watched Percy try to subdue her. She was trying to claw at her neck and tear her shirt, but Percy held her wrists in a vice.

"You have to stay!" Annabeth sobbed, still deeply sleeping.

She lifted her torso off the bed, and Percy put the weight of his upper body over hers to keep her down.

"No!" she continued to shriek. Percy was talking into her ear, trying to calm her, but Jason knew she couldn't hear him.

Jason heard thumping at the end of the hallway, and turned to see Nico and Piper running out of their rooms toward him. Jason shook his head and they slowed down to a walk.

"What's going on?" Piper asked.

"Is she ok?" asked Nico.

"Percy's trying to calm her, don't worry," Jason reassured them. Neither of them dropped the worried looks on their faces. "Let's meet in the rec hall. I'll be there in a few minutes, ok?"

Nico nodded, and started walking backward down the hall. "Alright. Yell for us if you need us."

Jason nodded, and turned back to Percy and Annabeth. She wasn't thrashing so hard now, and Percy's murmured words were more audible now.

"Annabeth, it's ok… I'm here, you're alright…"

Jason wondered how often Percy had done this while in Tartarus, as Percy seemed to have everything down pat.

Annabeth was still hyperventilating, but when she opened her eyes, she gasped loudly as if she couldn't get enough air. She looked at Percy for a moment, then began to sob. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her so that he was laying on her bed, and he wrapped his arms around her to try to console her.

Percy glanced up to Jason and looked him in the eye. 'I've got her,' he mouthed, and Jason nodded. He closed the door behind him as quietly as he could, and left the two alone. He walked toward the rec room, to the two people he was going to tell what had happened. No more than that. If he knew Annabeth like he thought he did, and he had learned anything from his conversation with Percy, everyone would be better off if a minimal amount of people knew the situation. So he would keep it that way.

**A/N Whew! That one was longer than I thought it would be. But, now the Jason thing is explained. And now, there are MORE things to explain in future chapters. So you know there will be more.**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

**A/N It's been a bit, hasn't it? I mean, not a ridiculous amount of time where you're like "Oh my gods is she dead?" but more of a "Huh. It's been a while since she updated. Weird." kind of thing. Sorry.**

**Oh well. I'm back!**

**So, I hope none of you think a lot of this chapter is redundant. But I wrote and rewrote this chapter like three times, so it's better than it was. Tell me either way!**

Jason opened his eyes to the darkness of his room. The memories of the dream that had awoken him were rapidly fading, but he could remember a few details. Plunging his sword into the gut of an enormous hellhound. Watching a vast array of monsters swarm out of the Doors of Death around Annabeth and Percy. Helping Frank carefully carry a severely wounded Percy aboard the ship, while Hazel helped a borderline hysteric Annabeth hobble along beside them.

He knew the dream was just a relay of the other day's events, and he wasn't sorry to see the memories of that dream go. If he wanted to torture himself, he could just remember the real thing and be ten times more affected.

Jason tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Everything was a distraction. The moon coming in through his window was too bright, the numbers on his alarm clock kept changing, and he was thirsty.

Deciding that maybe a drink of water would help, Jason swung his legs to the side of his bed. He wore gray sweatpants and an old Camp Jupiter shirt for his pajamas, so we wouldn't be under-dressed in case he was seen. But he was barefoot, to keep from making too much noise and waking his friends.

Jason walked out of his room and headed toward the kitchen. Looking down the hallway, he noticed something that he hadn't seen in a while. Percy and Annabeth's doors were closed. While they had been in Tartarus, their doors had remained open. He wasn't sure why, and he didn't think anyone else had a reason either. But it was an unspoken rule on the ship not to close the doors. Which, now that Jason thought about it, was ironic. What with them out to close the Doors of Death, and all.

But tonight was the first night the two were sleeping in their rooms. They had been sleeping in the infirmary for the last three nights, but everyone was fairly certain they were physically healthy enough to sleep alone. Nico had quietly asked Jason if he thought they were _mentally_ healthy enough, but neither of them stopped Percy and Annabeth from moving back to their rooms.

It was almost sad to look at them sometimes. Most of the time that feeling was drowned out by the euphoria of seeing them alive and together again, but other times you couldn't help but notice the differences. The vacant look in their eye. The pallor of their skin. How prominent their bones were. Neither one of them had smiled once since getting on the ship.

Jason took a cup out of the cabinet and filled it with water. He had put it to his mouth and taken a small sip when he heard something. It was coming from the bedroom closest to him, which was just on the other side of the kitchen wall next to him. Someone was talking. Jason moved closer to the wall and put his ear near it to listen.

"…don't you dare…"

Jason frowned. He realized it was Percy's room, but he had never heard Percy sound like that. He sounded menacing, and scared. Was there someone in there with him?

"…Annabeth, please…"

His voice was no longer menacing, but pleading. And as far as Jason knew, Annabeth wasn't in there with him. He must be having a nightmare.

Jason set down his water and jogged quickly into Percy's room. He had learned when Nico got back that the best thing to do was to wake him up from his nightmares, as it ended with less injuries on Nico's person.

Jason shook Percy's shoulders. He didn't respond. He was breathing hard through clenched teeth, and his hands were in tight fists.

"Percy, wake up," Jason said, but Percy didn't hear him. All of the muscles in Percy's arms were taut and he was drenched in sweat. Jason shook his shoulders harder, but remembered to be cautious of his recently mended shoulder.

"Annabeth," Percy said in a strangled whisper.

Suddenly, Percy's eyes flew open and Jason stepped back. He had been attacked a few too many times by Nico for being too close after he had woken up.

Percy's green eyes quickly swept the dark room, not landing on him. He took a step forward to alert Percy of his presence, and within half a second found himself at the end of Riptide.

oOoOoOo

Jason walked down the hallway toward the rec room, collecting his thoughts. He knew that he was only going to tell Piper and Nico, and only because he had to. He didn't feel it was his business to tell everyone about their friends' night terrors.

When Nico had first gotten on the ship, he had been plagued with nightmares. Nearly every night for a few weeks, someone would have to wake up and force him out of his sleep, as they had quickly learned it was better not to leave him asleep. The crew had first thought it would be better to let him sleep, on the idea that you were not supposed to wake up a sleep-walker. But when he woke up the first morning covered in self-inflicted injuries, they decided to wake him as soon as possible.

So everyone had decided that the same would be true with Annabeth and Percy. Several of them had taken turns staying outside the infirmary during the night, so as to wake them as soon as possible. Their shifts would change hourly. But they weren't needed. Both demi-gods had slept soundly through the night for the several days each had been there.

Jason had an idea as to why they couldn't sleep now, and he would share it with Piper and Nico.

He walked into the room and saw Piper sitting at the table, and Nico leaning against the wall to Jason's left. Piper was staring at her hands, which she had folded on the table in front of her. Nico was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest, and he was looking at his feet. They both looked up when he entered the room and started toward him.

"What happened?"

"I thought they were ok at night?"

"Why were you up already?"

"Is she ok now?"

They bombarded him with questions, too fast for him to answer. He raised his hands in a placating gesture and they stopped.

"Ok. One at a time," he told them. He walked to the table Piper had been sitting at, and the others joined him. Piper sat next to him, and Nico across the table. They both looked at him expectantly, and he took a breath before speaking. He was going to tell them what had happened, why he thought it had happened, and what he thought they should do to help.

"They both were having nightmares…" he began.

**Yeah, still not so great. And it's short. I guess this is the messy, crappy stuff you get when you force yourself through writer's block. I always heard other authors saying the same thing, but never understood what they meant until now.**

**Well, I have a plan for one more chapter, and that'll be all. I've lost most of my fizz for this story, so I'll end it soon before I slaughter it. You know, like how they ended the nineties show Friends while they were on top? Only I'm not on top. It's a limited similarity.**

**I'm gonna self-promote now: for any of you who would like to add a bit of substance to this story, I wrote a semi-companion piece to this called Gentle Folks that some of you may like. I would love it if you read it, and love it even more if you reviewed it. **

**Anywho. Your thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**A/N Hello again!**

**There's a bit in here that is word for word out of MoA, and I'm sure you'll recognize it. It's those few paragraphs at the end of the second-to-last chapter that made us realize: Rick can be evil. Just remember that they're Uncle Rick's words, not mine.**

oOoOo

She lay on the sand, her eyes closed as the sun graced her skin. As she woke up, she catalogued things she could feel without opening her eyes. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, her right hand lay relaxed on her stomach, and the other lay next to her. Her left hand was warm, like it was being held.

She opened her eyes, and took in her surroundings. The canoe lake, at camp. She could hear the water moving, as well as the other residual sounds of Camp Half Blood. There were birds, and the soft sound of other campers training, talking, wandering. It was your average, perfect day.

She looked to her left, wondering why her hand was warm. There, she found the loveliest sight in the world. Her boyfriend lay in the sand next to her, asleep, with his right hand covering hers. They had fallen asleep on the shore together, holding hands. She smiled so wide her cheeks hurt.

She moved her right hand from her stomach and brushed a bit of his hair from his face. As it tickled him, he scrunched his eyes and nose. Her wide smile relaxed into a happy grin, and she rubbed her thumb across his cheekbone. He squinted one eye open, just enough for her to see that brilliant green under his black lashes. When he saw her face, he relaxed his eyes and nose and gave a small smile.

"Hello, beautiful," he said to her with his boyish grin. She cocked her head at him, smile still in place.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, won't it?" she asked him.

He shrugged one shoulder at her. "I don't know, does it? That's what I was trying to find out."

She rolled her eyes at him. "What did you decide?"

"Jury's still out."

She chuckled a little bit and rolled to her side to face him, her left hand still in his and her right in between the two of them. Her hair was in the sand. He stayed laying on his back, looking out at the lake.

He sighed. "I used to love days like this," he told her, with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

She frowned slightly, but her grin hadn't disappeared yet. "What do you mean, _used _to?"

He turned his head to look at her, his eyes pained and knowing. A deep contrast from the happy, relaxed eyes he had looked at her with only moments ago.

"I miss you so much, Annabeth."

The smile melted from her face, and she frowned deeper. His thumb drew lazy circles on the back of her hand, like he was soothing her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her panic and worry seeping into her voice. "You're right here."

He grimaced slightly, a look of plain pity. "You know that I'm not."

The air turned cold, and all of the sounds around her had stopped. Her breath hitched, picking up pace. "Yes you are. I can touch you, I can interact with you. You're right _here,_ where else would you be?" she asked him, falling back to her old standby: logic.

His lips pursed. "Annabeth, you know that doesn't mean anything here," he told her.

She was shivering, not from cold though. "W-where is… here?"

He sighed. "Your mind, Annabeth. You know this can't really be happening, I'm _dead_. You watched it happen."

She began shaking her head. "No. No, that's not true."

Percy sighed once more. "I love you so much, Annabeth."

She blinked once, very fast, but when her eyes opened again the sight that met her was horrific, terrifying, and far too familiar.

They were in almost complete darkness, Riptide the only source of light. The beach was now a figment of her imagination, something she would fantasize about when the darkness was just too much. Percy lay, his throat gaping open with blood gushing out. The collar of his shirt was dyed red already, the crimson stains progressively traveling south. His shoulder was in an awkward position, disconnected. He was covered in gashes, up and down his body, with a nasty one on his forehead. The blood from his neck was all over his jaw, and more was creeping out of the side of his mouth. He looked at her with dim green eyes, dead eyes. There was no twinkle in them, no recognition. They were just… staring.

Tears streamed down her face as she scrambled to put her right hand to his now-cold wrist, searching for a pulse. Nothing. She moved her fingers to his temple, still no. She finally pressed her palm over his heart, searching for anything, _anything_, but it was still. He was dead. She was too late. She hadn't gotten to tell him she loved him too.

She sobbed, terrible, heart-wrenching sounds. She gripped his limp right hand with her left, the hand he had died holding. "No!" she whispered at him. "You can't do this to me!"

"He didn't do anything. You did this." said a voice from mere inches away.

She jumped, and tore her gaze from Percy's mangled body. On the other side of Percy was a woman, sitting cross-legged with her hands in her lap. She would be tall standing up, probably about 5'9 or so with an athletic build. She had long blonde hair, her curls falling over her shoulders. She wore an orange camp shirt with denim shorts, and a leather necklace around her neck, adorned with nine clay beads and one college ring. Her gray eyes cut into Annabeth, accusing and angry. It was herself.

The pale and injured Annabeth, the one clutching Percy's hand, took in a shaky breath. "Wh-what do y-you mean? I—"

"You know exactly what I mean," said the new Annabeth. "You killed him."

"No," said the real Annabeth, shakily getting to her feet. "A hellhound—"

"A hellhound that he came across in _Tartarus_," snapped New Annabeth as she got stealthily to her feet. While Real Annabeth put all of her weight into one foot and slouched to relieve pain from various injuries, New Annabeth stood at her full height, intimidating. "Why was he in Tartarus, again?"

oOoOo

_"Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."_

_His face was white with effort. She could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless._

_"Never," he said. He looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"_

_Nico's eyes widened. "But—"_

_"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"_

_"I—I will."_

_Below them, the voice laughed in the darkness. _Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.

_Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth's wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she thought he had never looked more handsome._

_"We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."_

_Only then did she understand what would happen. _A one way trip. A very hard fall.

_"As long as we're together," she said._

_She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw sunlight far, far above—maybe the last sunlight she would ever see._

_Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness._

oOoOo

Annabeth gasped as the truth hit her like a freight train. He had fallen in for _her_. He had given up his life to be with her. And she couldn't save him.

The Real Annabeth looked up at the new one to see her nodding her head. "Has your pretty head figured it out now? You let him fall in with you. You—"

"Wait, that's not fair," Real Annabeth countered with a shaky voice. "This is Percy, he's stubborn… He—he wouldn't have dropped me, his mind was made, he—"

New Annabeth cut her off in a patronizing tone. "Annabeth, _Annabeth_, don't kid yourself. The only two people in the world he would change his mind for are his mother, and you. You could've changed his mind. And you didn't." New Annabeth walked around Percy and toward her slowly, her sneering mouth spewing hateful truths at her. "You were _grateful_ he was with you, because you didn't want to lose him again. You didn't want to be alone. And now look," she said as she gestured to Percy. "You've killed the love of your life. And mine. So…" New Annabeth drew her knife. "I figure I make it a short life."

She raised her weapon, and before Real Annabeth had time to defend herself, she brought the weapon down.

oOoOoOo

Annabeth gasped harshly, dragging air into her aching lungs as she woke. She sat up, pushing the figure above her away. She looked around the room frantically, looking for the figment of her imagination that wanted to kill her. Instead of a bloodthirsty blonde, her eyes found a pale man with black hair and worried green eyes, which were boring into hers from in front of her, where she had pushed him.

Upon seeing him, tears sprang to her eyes and her face crumpled as she put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. He had been hovering above her much like the night before, and was now quick to wrap his arms around her to supply comfort. She cried into his neck while he rubbed her arms, trying to calm her.

"I'm s-so sorry, Percy!" she sobbed against his neck, for reasons that were beyond him. He pulled back and looked at her face, trying to get her to meet his eyes. "I-it's all my f-fault!"

"Hey, shh," he consoled her, waiting for her to calm down. She bit her lower lip in an effort to control her sobs, looking down. He put his index finger under her chin and pulled her face up to look at him through her watery and bloodshot eyes.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked her in a soft tone.

Her breath caught again, but she kept herself together. "Because it's all my fault."

Her response was pretty vague, but he overlooked it and looked for more answers. "What do you think is your fault?"

"You… you almost died because of me. It's my fault you were in Tartarus."

Percy shook his head. "How in the world is it your fault?"

She took a deep breath, meant to be cleansing, but it didn't work well. "I shouldn't have let you fall in with me."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "_Let_ me? Annabeth, I—"

"I didn't even try to talk you out of it. I was selfish, and—"

"Annabeth, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but nothing in the world would have stopped me. I was not going to let you fall by yourself."

Annabeth looked at him. _Really_ looked at him. His eyes weren't quite as lifeless as they had been in the days before, they had determination in them. His eyebrows were scrunched, like they were when he worried or concentrated. He looked more like his old self than he had in weeks.

"What was your dream about, Annabeth?" he asked her quietly.

She tore her eyes from his and looked back at her lap, where her hands played with the hem of her shirt. "I… I don't want to talk about it, Percy."

He sighed, and rubbed his hand on her back some more. "Will you tell me why you were talking to yourself, then?"

She scowled at him. "You talk to yourself when you have nightmares too, Seaweed Brain."

He shook his head. "Not what I meant. You were saying your own name, like you were talking to yourself. Or someone with the same name. Why?"

Her scowl softened into a sad half-pout. She hadn't wanted to talk about it, and he had prompted the conversation anyway. But his face was soft and worried, indicating that he only wanted to help her. She sighed. "What did I say, exactly?" she asked him quietly.

"I just heard you mumbling something like 'no, Annabeth' at the beginning, and then the rest was just bits and pieces of sentences that I didn't get."

She nodded and looked back at her hands. "Ok."

Percy was quiet for a minute before he spoke again. "You don't have to tell me, but I'd like to know."

She looked at him once again. He looked helpless, wanting to help but unsure how.

She sighed. "You and I were on the beach of the canoe lake at camp. Everything was beautiful, and just the way I remembered it, and so realistic I didn't realize I was dreaming." She paused to think about the rest of her nightmare, knowing that she could stop now and Percy wouldn't think any less of her. She kept going.

She told him about the rest of her dream, with him dying in Tartarus and her other self killing her. The longer she spoke the faster she went, hoping to get all of the words out before her tears choked her out and she couldn't speak.

Percy listened to her without interrupting. He could tell she was trying to tell him everything without emotion, in an almost monotone, but he knew her well enough to hear those soft hiccups and wavers in her voice.

She leaned against his chest. "And then she was about to stab me when I woke up."

Percy took her quiet to mean she was done. "Ok. Do you feel better now?"

Annabeth took a deep breath in through the nose, then exhaled out of her mouth. She paused, then decided "No."

Percy cocked his head at her. "Not even a little?"

Annabeth assessed herself. "Alright, I feel a little better."

Percy nodded, satisfied. "Thought so."

She rolled her eyes. Percy was proud of himself for coming up with the idea to talk about their dreams to see if it made them feel better, and sometimes he showed it.

Annabeth looked for a clock in the room, and remembered that Percy was in _her_ room. She looked at him in panic.

"It's almost seven! You're in my room! Everyone is probably awake, they're going to see you coming from my room! What—"

"Annabeth, calm down," Percy soothed, getting out of her bed.

"I can't! If Hedge finds out, he'll make sure neither of us is ever within touching distance!"

Percy was about to respond when there was a soft knock on the door. "Hello?" asked a soft female voice, obviously Piper. Annabeth looked at Percy, then grabbed his shirt and dragged him with her. She pushed him to the side so that Piper wouldn't see him when she opened the door. She turned the handle and faced the daughter of Aphrodite, looking beautiful as ever despite the early hour.

"Hey," said Piper as the door opened. She threw a glance around what she could see of the room and then looked back at Annabeth. "Did he already leave?" she asked in a whisper.

Annabeth opened her mouth but didn't say anything for a moment. Finally Percy moved from behind the door so Piper could see him, and she spoke. "How did you know he was in here?"

"Well I kind of made Jason tell me last night. Or, this morning. So did Nico."

"How did he know?"

Percy answered her. "He was with me when I came in here this morning."

Annabeth turned to Percy, leaving Piper to watch them and their odd behavior from the doorway.

"Why was he with you?"

"Because he had just woken me up from a nightmare too. See?" Percy held up his bandaged hands.

Annabeth frowned and touched the white cotton. "Why didn't I notice these?"

Percy shrugged. "They don't matter."

"Wait, what do these have to do with your nightmare?" she asked slowly. Percy suddenly didn't want to meet Annabeth's eyes. She raised her eyebrows. "Did you hurt yourself while dreaming?"

"I—"

"You did! That means it was bad, and you didn't tell me!"

"I didn't have the opportunity, and it's fine, I talked it over with Jason."

"Right, Jason," Annabeth said as she remembered the task at hand. She turned back to Piper, who had been watching their conversation like a tennis match, with a slightly gaping mouth. They had been acting like their old selves for a minute there. Piper shook herself and paid attention again. "So you and Nico and Jason know? Who else? Are we in trouble?"

Piper shook her head. "Just the three of us know. Nico and I woke up because we heard… well, a commotion, and we ran down to see if we could help, but Percy had it under control. Then later he told us that we should let Percy stay, because he seemed to know what he was doing to help you. So I'm here now to tell you that the coast is clear for you to leave undetected, so that Coach doesn't find out."

Percy and Annabeth looked at her for a moment before Percy spoke. "That's… that's really nice. Thanks."

Piper shrugged. "No prob. Just make sure you leave soon. And it might not hurt to get to breakfast separately, you know?"

Annabeth nodded, and Piper turned to leave. "Th-thank you, Piper," Annabeth called after her. Piper turned around and smiled at them. She thought about asking them about their behavior, about what had changed to make them resemble their old selves again, but decided against it. Maybe not mentioning it would be for the best, and they could get better and better.

She turned around again and headed down the hall toward breakfast, smiling to herself. Maybe they were each twenty pounds underweight and covered in wounds, and maybe they were a little broken, but maybe they could fix each other. Piper had seen their eyes, both of them regaining a bit of their old life. Maybe they hadn't come back immediately, but maybe they were on their way now.

**A/N So yeah. That's the last chapter.**

**First, may I just say that the reviews and PMs telling me they wish I wouldn't stop the story were _really _sweet? They made me feel all gooey, and a little guilty for stopping. But I remind myself that if I continued the story I would probably ruin it, and the guilt goes away and I figure this is probably for the best.**

**That being said, I'm thinking about doing an epilogue. I don't know how long until I post it, but it'll happen. So don't forget about this story just yet!**

**You guys rock. Please review?**


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